Monthly Archives: July 2012

UNWELCOMED ADVERTISING!

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Laura

When I set up this blog which is about stepping off the consumption line I very specifically chose to not have any advertising on this site.

Further, anyone who reads my posts knows that I do not use ANY commercial products for cleaning myself or my home beyond baking soda, organic apple cider vinegar for myself and white vinegar for my home.  I also use only olive oil to moisturize my skin and my hair.  I would never endorse anything that I do not use or that I am not 100% happy with.  Simple as that!

Still, this stuff which I personally consider to be total crap, and which I am more than likely allergic to, is on my blog.  This is here without my permission!  I do not make any advertising revenue on this Vaseline ad, nor any other ad which is being put without my permission here.  I do not endorse this, nor any other product. While I understand that with the number of readers Tiny House Ontario has, that advertisers might want to get in here, certainly I would not allow any products that I personally would never use, be a part of what I would allow here.  I am not opposed to advertising, for example, I would be happy to allow for example Bison Pumps or certain other off grid suppliers for things that people actually NEED, on my site, but Vaseline blah, blah, blah!  Seriously?  This sort of advertising is NOT in keeping with the ideology here at all!  I promise that if I ever do allow advertising that it will be only for products that I have used, like and or aspire to have at THO.

I want to extend an apology to my readers who have been subjected to this consumer nonsense and I also want to know if any bloggers out there know what to do about this?  For example, can I find a paid and applicable sponsor which will wipe out all this, or can I just make adjustments to my WordPress blog which will allow this to stop.  For example, if I pay for the blog space will the ads stop?

Thanks!  Image by Colleen who both captured this on her screen as well as brought it to my attention.

________________

So a half hour after this post and this is what Colleen sees when she looks at this post!  Please let me know if you also see this.

Categories: Materialism, Money, Open your eyes, Readers, Simple living, Sustainable living, Tiny House Ontario | 8 Comments

Going Batty!

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Laura

NEWS: it is raining at Tiny House Ontario and has been for some number of hours according to those who are living nearby.  WOOT WOOT!  I will worry less now!  Sadly, I think even a solid week of rain will not make a lot of difference to farmers at this time; the rain will still save a lot of trees, I hope!

When I was last there a few days ago sitting out on the cloth porch we watched through the cloth on the other side.  There were praying mantis insects under the solar LED porch light and they were collecting the night light bugs.  We have a lot of night bugs.

As a matter of fact, when I lay down at night, with my head in the window, the sound of hopeful mosquitos who are trying to get through the screen and vampire me to death is astonishingly loud.  Hundreds of them, I would guess, smell me.  Apparently, they think I am quite the tasty treat…

In discussion about the large number of mosquitos I came to the conclusion that I might just be able to do something natural to impact this a little bit. I am not sure if it is as simple as build it and they will come, but even so a young friend of a friend suggested building and bat house in order to help with decreasing the mosquito population.  This looks totally simple!

I don’t have any 4×4 boards at THO at the moment but they are not too hard to come by.  Another problem is digging that deep in the forest because of roots and also because of the limestone.   Still, I think that it might be fun to have some of the little winged mice nearby and it will be great if this works and it decreases the mosquitos!

A bonus too is that I also have lots of small bits of steel so I can give them a very posh roof that matches THO!  😛

Thank you, Cameleon, for the idea!

Categories: Cloth Porch, Environmentalism, Food, Forest, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Tiny House Ontario | 2 Comments

Going Buggy!

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Laura

I got a lady bug key for Tiny House Ontario when I put the locks in.  I thought it would be easier to find if I was coming home after dark, and it is.

When I was going through my art supplies a few weeks ago, I found some small wooden lady bugs left over from when I was teaching Art to young children in a school in Germany so I thought I would put them on the door  marching toward the key hole.  I think they are too cute!

Today, I went for a pedicure and I suddenly decided that I wanted my toes done decoratively… you guessed it.  Perhaps it because I want to march back there myself.  I miss Tiny House Ontario!

The people there are still hoping for rain.

Categories: Drought, Friendship, Ontario, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment

Worry

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Laura

I have heard from friends near Tiny House Ontario that it still has not rained a drop.  The Weather Network calls for rain on Thursday but they have not been right yet when calling for rain.  They said that there would be rain there today, for example.

I am afraid that my garden looks like this (or worse):

I am even more afraid that worried that the trees are still falling and I hope that THO is safe there alone in the drought.

I won’t get back there for a few more days to water, I have no idea what to expect when I return there on Sunday.

Categories: Drought, Forest, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Tiny House Ontario | 2 Comments

Big Day, Big Shift!

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Laura

Today Tiny House Ontario reached 30,000 reads.  I have to say that I really had not expected this when I started this blog back on November 30 2011, less than 8 months ago.  I had intended to keep my interested friends up to date on what I was up to because they are all spread out and I don’t see them a lot.  Basically, I thought it would be easier than explaining what a Tiny House is, over and over again; so it was a laziness thing!

To say that I am surprised at the interest, would be a vast understatement.  Thank you all very much!  I am very flattered by the attention Tiny House Ontario has received.

Speaking of attention, tomorrow is my interview with KBOO Radio from Portland, Oregon!  Oh my!

The other big thing for me is that I am in Hamilton in order to do some work on my book.  I have printed what I have transcribed and will work on transcribing the rest.  What I mean is that draft number one of my book is ready.  I am sure that there is a lot of work to still do on it, nonetheless… it is now nearly all typed up and in a paper format waiting for its first edit by yours truly!

Back to you folks!  Should you wonder, here is where my readers are coming in from for the last quarter of a year:  I notice that I am back up in Canadian readers again, last quarter they were about par with friends to the South.

Thank you very much for reading about Tiny House Ontario!

Categories: Laura Moreland, Ontario, Readers, Tiny House Ontario, Writing | Leave a comment